SATURDAY, JANUARY 31
Scripture: Acts 13:9,10; 18:24,25; 19:9,23

Acts 13:9,10 says, “Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?’” Isn’t it interesting that as soon as the Apostle Paul found himself in a confrontation with a false prophet, he accused him of perverting the straight ways of the Lord and immediately brought blindness and judgment on him? And that judgment caused the proconsul to believe so that he gained a salvation through judgment. How many salvations have we not gained because we have not understood and embraced the way of the Lord and prayed God’s judgment? It is clear in Scripture and the question is, are we going to embrace it for the last days so that we can have the fullness of the harvest that God has ordained for us. Acts 18:24,25 says, “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.” Apollos was eloquent in Scripture, but he only knew the way of the Lord up to the point of the baptism of John. He did not know the way of the Lord, as comprised in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting that there is a difference between the baptism of John and the baptism of the Spirit. This difference tells us that the baptism of the Spirit is important to executing judgment in the way of the Lord. Acts 19:9,23 in the Good News translation, states, “But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord. So Paul left them and took the believers with him, and every day he held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus…It was at this time that there was serious trouble in Ephesus because of the Way of the Lord.” We find that the way of the Lord became a central issue in the New Testament church, probably because it included the execution of judgment through prayer. Serious Christians who executed judgment turned cultures upside down, forcing them to consider righteousness! Righteousness is not popular and there are enough religious spirits who war against this message that it has a preparational price tag. But the way of the Lord is biblical! It is so biblical, it runs all the way through the Old Covenant, all the way through the New. It is very solidly in the book of Acts. How can we neglect so great a salvation and so great a call as to prepare the way of the Lord by making crooked places straight and rough places smooth. Most often, it is the judgment of God that accomplishes this. This is not surprising, as judgment causes the fear of God to fall. The Word tells us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And if only we enter in, can we taste the full measure of harvest? The choice is ours and we have to make it. It is time to line up with Jesus and demonstrate the way of the Lord!